Straight off the shelves: Author appearances at book clubs bridge gaps between writers, readers

View full sizeSteve Hockstein/For the Star-LedgerBestselling author Erik Larson speaks about his new book "In the Garden of the Beasts" to a overflow audience at the Green Brook Country Club Book Club in North Caldwell last month.

NORTH CALDWELL — It is a book club of epic proportions — or as best-selling author Erik Larson puts it, "a book mob."

"I’ve never seen anything like it," Larson said when 455 readers showed up at Green Brook Country Club in North Caldwell last month to discuss his book, "In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin."

A lot of people might feel the same way. But if you think a book club can’t have hundreds of members, enjoy a lavish luncheon or even entice author after author to show up, well, you just may be living in once upon a time.

Super-size clubs and the chance for members to ask authors if they meant what the reader read were not even a consideration for book clubs just a few years back. But that was when a book club meant a small group of adults who shared coffee and cake as they rotated living rooms each month to parse, on their own, the meaning and mystery of a writer’s work.

Now, with the help of the internet, what happens at Green Brook — where a person doesn’t have to join the country club to be a member of the book club — just might be the future. Organizers of such groups have increasingly been seeking out authors to speak at their meetings, eliminating the need for people to wait for appearances at book stores or libraries.

Using online resources such as Google, Facebook and Skype, clubs are talking with authors directly to get better insight into the books they’re reading.

All it takes is a computer — and some tenacity.

"The old way just seemed stale," said Marlene Cohen, who started the Green Brook book club in 2005. "I wanted to find some way to make it more exciting."

Cohen would select a book and then Google the author’s contact information. The hard part at first was being aggressive and pushing through the cold shoulders and rejections, she said.

The club began as a hobby while Cohen recovered from back surgery that forced her to give up golf. But it wasn’t long before she landed major authors such as Lisa See, Mary Higgins Clark and even actor Robert Wagner.

And what started out as a 15-member club has now expanded to hundreds, with some meetings, such as the Larson appearance, even requiring a waiting list. In addition, the book club welcomes members of the public to its events.

Cohen declined to discuss the specifics of how she persuades authors to visit but said it ultimately comes down to persistence.

Tom Clark, organizer of the Bergen County-based New Jersey Book Club, said the vast supply of authors’ websites has made such requests easier. He started inviting authors for telephone conference calls about two years ago, and his first guest was Gordon S. Wood, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Radicalism of the American Revolution."

Convenience for the author, Clark said, is a major reason why he opts for conference calls rather than personal appearances.

Jennifer Hart, an associate publisher for William Morrow who oversees the blog Book Club Girl, said she’s heard of more book clubs doing something similar.

"Let’s face it. Five years ago finding an author’s contact information was not easy to do," Hart said. "Technology is strengthening the bond between the author and the reader."

Now, she said, the idea is getting popular with both readers and publishing houses, which see it as a promotional opportunity.

What’s really gained traction over the past few years are Skype appearances, Hart said. The platform eliminates the biggest hurdle in author visits — distance — and it allows authors to reach out to more clubs simultaneously, she said.

"It’s an extremely effective way to get the word out," she said.

Skype visits might also be coming to book clubs at the Bernardsville Public Library in Somerset County, said Madelyn English, the library’s adult program manager. English said it’s an idea library officials are considering, even though it’s unlikely that best-selling authors, who command large fees to show, would be brought in.

For some book clubs as well, the lack of financial incentives seems insurmountable.

Kimberley Cromwell, a Montville resident who steers a 70-member book club in Morris County, said she doesn’t actively reach out to high-profile authors because her club isn’t big enough to guarantee book sales.

There is, however, a plethora of unknown authors who seek her out for appearances.

"For self-published and first-time authors, I think it’s the other way around — the internet gives them … better access to book groups," Cromwell said.

According to Clark, a book club’s success in landing authors also boosts its credibility, which ultimately brings in more authors.

And that’s the level Cohen’s book club has reached. The meetings have become event-like, with a buffet feast funded by admission fees and booksellers peddling volumes for signings.

The Larson showing was held in a banquet room at the country club, accompanied by an outdoor buffet spread that featured an array of salads, salmon, eggs and other dishes designed to whet the audience’s appetite for the author.

A bookseller set up shop just outside to peddle Larson’s books. And in parting, everyone was given a free book, though not that of the guest speaker.

Experiences like that are what helped the club balloon to a size that Hart said is almost unheard of in New Jersey.

Next up for Cohen is Delia Ephron, a novelist and sister of author and screenwriter Nora Ephron. Delia Ephron is scheduled to speak at next week’s meeting at Green Brook Country Club — a meeting that’s already secured 300 reservations.